Posted on 02/19/2002 4:02:02 PM PST by kattracks
An author of the Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform bill passed by the House last week had telephones ringing off the hook in New York and Washington, D.C. Tuesday afternoon when he said during a radio interview that he and many of his fellow congressional representatives are "corrupt."
During a heated debate on the influence of big money in politics, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Ct.) told nationally syndicated radio host Sean Hannity that he could name "more than three" congressmen who he said had been corrupted by campaign donations - but declined to do so on the air.
Shays' bizarre confession prompted calls of concern to his Washington office by several colleagues, with Hannity revealing after the interview that at least three congressman had called his own New York City broadcast studio for clarification on what Shays said.
The full exchange went like this:
HANNITY: Can you name me three members of Congress, just three, that are corrupt because they receive donations?
SHAYS: Oh, I can name you more than three, but I wouldn't...
HANNITY: You can?
SHAYS: No, no, Sean, this is one thing we have to be very honest about in our society. You don't - you, I hope, were outraged at Enron, what happened at Enron. I was.
HANNITY: I'm more outraged about Global Crossing, but that's....
SHAYS: Well, O.K. But either way what happened was there were two things that Enron - Enron told us a whole host of things. But one of the things they taught us was that nobody spoke out about a corrupt system. And even Miss Watkins, who spoke out, only spoke out internally.
Now, I would be like Miss Watkins if all I did was to speak internally and tell my Speaker the system is corrupting us - cause I've done that. And what corrupts us....
HANNITY: You're saying that members of Congress, you have no doubt - how many would you say of the 435 members are corrupt? Cause you're saying....
SHAYS: Now, Sean, I want to say this to you. This is a system that corrupts everyone it touches - even me....
HANNITY: You have been corrupted by accepting donations?
SHAYS: Let me just explain to you how, and, you know, we may not be able to cover it all. But, I want to be honest with you like you would want an Enron employee to be honest with you.
And the bottom line is, certain bills don't come to the floor because the people are major contributors. Certain amendments don't get on the rules committee because people are major contributors. Some bills get to the floor because there are major contributors. Some issues that have been important to some people in the general public for years don't see the light of day because major contributors don't like it. And that's a fact. (End of Excerpt)
Shays' comments about congressional corruption set off a firestorm of controversy, so much so that minutes after the interview ended he was back on the telephone asking Hannity for more airtime.
SHAYS: I wanted to dialogue because I don't feel that everyone in Congress is corrupt. I think it's a corrupting system.... I was having people call me in response to one or two things you were saying and I really want to be clear on this because this is very important to me.
I believe that I work with some of the finest people who actually are members of Congress. But the issue is, do I think all members of Congress are corrupt? Absolutely not.
HANNITY: No, you didn't say that. But you said some.
SHAYS: But what I do believe is that we are involved in a very corrupting system.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Next he'll be telling us:
Wrestling is fixed.
The Pope is Catholic.
Bears shiit in the woods
I bet his remarks are about as welcome to his colleagues as a frog in the guacamole.
It certainly took some time for Shays to get to the meat of it. I don't think the guy is very bright frankly. And that clown Hannity never helps. He is so belligent and mouthy, that it may be better for him to just talk to himself.
And why didn't they ban ALL soft money?
See, there was this one guy who voted not to impeach a politician whom he believes is a rapist at roughly the same time that his wife was given a nice cushy Executive-branch government job.
Well, he brought it up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.